Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[scooby_doo_do]

Driving along the A414 today, and i had the sports button on and went to overtake. Can went up to 6.5k revs and then i slowed down.

Noticed "lots" of smoke from the rear of the car.. But was more white than blue..

Pulled over as soon as i could and saw the temperature gauge go up to the 95-100 mark.. Once i turned the engine off lots of steam from arond the engine bay. Popped the lid and water was everywhere.

Let the car cool down, and then checked coolant level - empty.

Couldn't see any hoses off, so started the car breifly to see if there was any white smoke from exhaust - all clear - along with the oil.

poured some coolant in, and it just pours out the underneath of the car from the back of the engine somewhere fairly central - so guessing i've popped a pipe somewhere..

Any idea's where this water pipe is? and how to get to it?

Many thanks

Craig.

[ians]

First thing to check is HBV - heater bypass valve.

Its a cyclindrical black plastic thing  -about the size of an oil filter - and sits in line with the driver and just below scuttle behind the engine.

They can go big time.

Stand next to the drivers side wheel and shine a torch under the scuttle and behind the engine = you will doon see signs of moisture if thats it.

Easyish fix..

[GastronomicKleptomaniac]

First thing to check is HBV - heater bypass valve.

...

Easyish fix..

..and there's a terrifically well-written how-to in the Maintenance Guide section of the forum... *cough*

[HGV mechanic]

have you tryed starting since it cooled down, ?

could be HG :-?

[ians]

It could be , but experience on here is that HGs almost never go, and HBV will go sooner or later.

Guess it depends wherer that white 'smoke' was actually coming through the exhaust, or off the exhaust and blown back behind the car.

I know what my money is on..

[PxMetro]

Is there a core plug on the rear of the Cylinder Head on these engines? If so, this could also be a possible cause of the coolant leak

[scooby_doo_do]

tried starting it, no smoke anywhere and sounds fine.

water was all over the rear of the top part of the engine. Will have a look round tommorrow and see if i can see if its the HBV.

[Entwood]

Sounds very HBV to me ... remember it can leak at different times and different rates depending on both the outside temperature and the requested cabin temperature.. as it moves internally to control the latter ....bit of a sod to pin down sometimes

[scooby_doo_do]

took the plenum off the car, and have taken off the scuttle tray.

Foud the problem to be a rather large split in the hose, right at the back of the engine, it has a twist in it and connects to the hbv (i think) and goes to the engine block.

Had to remove remove the unit with the injectors on to get to it. It was a complete pain the ar$e. but managed to get it off.

Halfords don't do the pipe, so i'm guessing it's a vauxhall only one...

Oh well, i'm leaving it for the rest of the week, until i put it back together and hopefully get a replacement pipe.

[philhoward]

The "Helter Skelter pipe"?